Father massacres 3 children in front of his ex-wife before killing himself, police say

Denton County Sheriff Deputies work the scene of a shooting in Ponder, Texas where multiple people died Wednesday, May 16, according to Capt. Orlando Hinojosa, a spokesman for the Denton County Sheriff’s Office. (Julian Gill/The Denton Record-Chronicle via AP)

PONDER, Texas (WCMH) — A woman’s ex-husband went into her home and opened fire, killing their three children and her boyfriend before killing himself, deputies say.

Denton County sheriff’s Capt. Orlando Hinojosa says the gunman also shot his ex-wife, but she survived and is receiving hospital treatment.

Authorities later identified the ex-wife as Amanda Simpson. Her ex-husband, Justin Painter, is believed to have been the gunman.

Simpson posted a public Facebook Live video from her hospital bed discussing her children and her troubled relationship with her ex-husband, NBC Dallas reports.

“I’ve relived it over and over and every time I close my eyes, I see my babies… I see them dead,” Simpson said. “Every time I close my eyes, you don’t want to know what I see…”

Simpson says she’s angry at the judge who handled her divorce, claiming she had warned the court that her ex-husband was unstable.

“I made it very clear to the judge that he was mentally unstable. And they didn’t listen. So now, I don’t have my babies,” said Simpson.

The shooting happened just before 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. Simpson said the day before, Painter had called her wanting to reconcile the relationship, and “he didn’t like it” when she told him no.

Simpson ended her video talking about her kids in tears.

“You guys know that they were my everything, my purpose to breathe,” Simpson said. “I just ask if you can…pray that my kids knew that I loved them.”

Ponder is a small town of about 2,000 residents. It is located about 40 miles northwest of Dallas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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“I made it very clear to the judge that he was mentally unstable. And they didn’t listen. So now, I don’t have my babies,” the surviving mother said in a heartbreaking video posted to Facebook.Posted by KXAN News on Thursday, May 17, 2018

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